A Newbery Medal Winner Professor William Waterman Sherman intends to fly across the Pacific Ocean. But through a twist of fate, he lands on Krakatoa, and discovers a world of unimaginable wealth, eccentric inhabitants, and incredible balloon inventions.Winner of the 1948 Newbery Medal, this classic fantasy-adventure is now available in a handsome new edition. "William Pene du Bois combines his rich imagination, scientific tastes, and brilliant artistry to tell astory that has no age limit."—The Horn Book

Get cozy with the classics! Jules Verne collects some of the author’s best-known works in one volume. 2013 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Finalist in Gift Books Legendary science fiction and adventure author Jules Verne is remembered for his fascinating stories of travel and excitement. With countless adaptations available, the titles of his works are familiar. But no joy can compare to reading the originals! This book features the African exploration of Five Weeks in a Balloon; the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea; Around the World in Eighty Days, the famous story of an incredible expedition; and the classic Journey to the Center of the Earth, which takes readers into our world’s geological past. With an introduction by an expert on Verne’s life and writing, it’s an excellent introduction to the work of this well-loved author. Expand your home library--and your imagination--with Jules Verne!

In 1897, at the height of the heroic age of Arctic exploration, the visionary Swedish explorer S. A. Andrée made a revolutionary attempt to discover the North Pole by flying over it in a hydrogen balloon. Thirty-three years later, his expedition diaries and papers would be discovered on the ice. Alec Wilkinson uses the explorer’s papers and contemporary sources to tell the full story of this ambitious voyage, while also showing how the late 19th century’s spirit of exploration and scientific discovery drove over 1,000 explorers to the unforgiving Arctic landscape. Suspenseful and haunting, Wilkinson captures Andrée’s remarkable adventure and illuminates the detail, beauty, and devastating conditions of traveling and dwelling on the ice.

Five Weeks in a Balloon, or, A Journey of Discovery by Three Englishmen in Africa (French: Cinq semaines en ballon) is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1863. It is the first novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing a story line full of adventure and plot twists that keep the reader's interest through passages of technical, geographic, and historic description. The book gives readers a glimpse of the exploration of Africa, which was still not completely known to Europeans of the time, with explorers traveling all over the continent in search of its secrets.

"First Mate Shandon receives a mysterious letter asking him to construct a reinforced steamship in Liverpool. As he heads out for Melville Bay and the Arctic labyrinth, a crewman reveals himself to be John Hatteras, and his lifelong obsession, the Pole. Despite experiencing appalling cold and hunger, the captain treks across the frozen wastes in search of fuel. Abandoned by his crew, Hatteras remains without resources at the coldest spot on earth. How can he find food and explore the Polar Sea? And what will he find at the top of the world?"--Back cover.

"The chiefs are armed with muskets," said he, "and our balloon is too easy a mark for them.""Would a hole make us fall?" asked Joe."Not immediately; but the hole would soon become a vast rent, through which all our gas would escape.""Then let us keep at a respectful distance. What can they think of us? I'm sure they want to worship us!""We will let ourselves be worshipped," answered the doctor, "but from afar..."13.5013.5013.50First published in France in 1863, this is the first of Jules Verne's novels of imaginative adventures. Much more down to earth-figuratively, if not literally-than his later works, his heroes here encounter no lost civilizations, no anachronistic dinosaurs, and no extraordinary perils beyond that which actual explorers of the era might have met on a balloon voyage across the Dark Continent. An inspiration to generations of writers and readers, Verne's fiction remains compelling and thoroughly enjoyable today.French author JULES GABRIEL VERNE (1828-1905) is considered the father of modern science fiction. Among his many groundbreaking books are Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872).